By Clayton Wood, Clayton@claytonwood.net GETTING STARTED
1. See your goals clearly: For most people, this is the hard part. Before you can tell your network (and eventually a hiring manager) what you're looking for, you must know it yourself. Knowing it means knowing yourself—your experiences and what they've taught you, your personal traits that represent your style of problem solving, and your skills that you learned in school and on the job. It also means knowing your heart—what are you seeking at this stage of your career? Are you continuing on a track or making a pivot? Are you craving a change? The answers to these questions typically come over time, but getting a rough idea of the dimensions of these questions is critical to develop BEFORE you start your search in earnest. 2. The circumstances are the circumstances: The hiring and job search process is broken. The job description you see is a poor representation of what the firm actually needs just as your resume is a poor representation of you and what you can offer. The likelihood of a perfect match using only those two documents is exceedingly remote. Recognize that your chances of finding a job by leaning only on applications and resume submissions are low and you must do the hard (and rewarding) work of personal interactions. 3. Don't be shy: Transition is not a stealth project. You want everyone in your world to know what you're looking for so that you can enlist their eyes and ears for your advantage. I learned this lesson slowly, but the last time I did it I sent a letter to my entire LinkedIn network and had multiple fresh leads within half a day. This works! As an added bonus, my transition letter was picked up by Matt Youngquist who included it in his newsletter saying it was the best example he'd ever seen. This can find it here: http://careerhorizons.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/broadcas t-networking-e-mail-great-example/
4. Find a Buddy: A support group or a job search buddy is the single most important tool you can have in a search. This is often overlooked because you have friends and family to rely on, but the fact is that those folks, especially spouses, are actually on the journey with you except that they aren't driving. It's really hard to tell your spouse that you could have done better in an interview or that you really aren't going if your LinkedIn profile is "done." Job search is an activity where you can have a great day and a terrible day all before lunch. If you wake up to an email response to a meeting with a key person you've been hoping to connect with you'll be on cloud nine—until you get that thanks-but-we'll-keep-your-resume-on-file note later in the morning. It's an emotional roller coaster and it helps immensely to have someone to share with who doesn't get motion sickness. 5. Make yourself findable and worth finding: Look at the best LinkedIn profiles and steal shamelessly. I found a former colleague who was having a lot of success and modeled my profile on his and added lots of keywords. I very quickly saw my search results get much better and I'm now in the top 1% of LinkedIn search results. Feel free to steal shamelessly.
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